Zhou Shou was shocked at first, but he immediately understood what his brother was thinking. Zhou Yu was so determined that he would rather be punished than let the Zhang brothers take advantage of this loophole.
It actually takes a lot of courage to do this, because maybe the emperor will be angry and punished. But in the face of family interests, Zhou Yu has to take this risk. Zhou Shou was also very moved. By doing this, his brother actually took the responsibility.
In his case, in fact, this was entirely Zhou Shou's own idea, just a way to lower the price and successfully obtain the emperor's permission.
"Your Majesty, forgive me. The old minister also failed to investigate this matter. The old minister also deserves to be punished. Please forgive me, Your Majesty!" Zhou Shou also knelt down beside him and said.
Zhu Youtang frowned, and he was indeed a little annoyed. But such things are actually common. Zhu Youtang knew these tricks of the Xunqi Family. They never talked about the land they wanted to talk about, and it was such a barren mountain.
Can't plant or anything like that. Zhu Youtang knew their tricks, but he just didn't want to expose them. Since he rewarded them with land, it was meant to protect them. It would be easier for the officials to explain it to the officials if they said it was a barren mountain. Even this time
, Zhou Shou said it was a wasteland, but Zhu Youtang actually had some reservations in his heart and did not ask in detail.
"Zhou Yu, you are committing the crime of deceiving the emperor. You are so bold." Zhang Heling jumped up as if he had grasped the handle.
Zhang Yanling didn't say anything, only sneered on his face. Naturally, he could see that the Zhou brothers were retreating in order to advance, and they insisted on fighting with him to the end. With the emperor's temperament, most likely he would not really convict him for this kind of thing. At most, he would say
They just said a few words.
Sure enough, Zhu Youtang sighed and said: "Why are you doing this? I ask myself that I treat the family of honorary relatives well. Your Zhou family is also a relative of the country, and I respect the old queen mother very much. Looking at the family of honorary relatives, your Zhou family and I do not
Look after me less. Why do you lie to me for a mere four hundred hectares of land?"
"Your Majesty, please forgive me. I'm so confused and confused. I can't help Your Majesty." Zhou Shou shouted.
Zhu Youtang sighed and said: "Forget it, everyone, get up. I don't want to blame you. You should reflect on yourselves and think about it carefully."
The two brothers Zhou Shou and Zhou Yu stood up to express their gratitude and felt relieved. Zhang Yanling sighed in her heart: It is true that the emperor, her brother-in-law, is a bad person. It is probably because they understand his temper that the Zhou brothers dare to do this.
"That means that the four hundred hectares of fertile land are the four hundred hectares of land that you, Heling and Yanling, bought. What's such a coincidence? Why did you go to Baodi to buy land? I remember that I didn't allow you to buy land.
.The imperial court is not allowed to purchase people's land at will, why did you two do this? Do you know that this is against the imperial decree?" Zhu Youtang said to the Zhang brothers, his tone was a bit harsh.
Zhang Heling glanced at Zhang Yanling and thought: It's over, how should I answer this?
Zhang Yanling hurriedly said: "Reporting to the emperor, I thought that the Zhou family could buy it, so we could buy it. It seems that I misunderstood. I was wrong."
Zhu Youtang looked at Zhang Yanling blankly. He didn't expect that he would accuse him so seriously, but this guy would just pass it off so lightly. It was really shameless to take away a misunderstanding. However, did he want to punish them both?
Can't it be a crime? That's not possible either.
"It turns out it was a misunderstanding. Well, that's understandable." Zhu Youtang nodded.
Zhou Shou and Zhou Yu's eyes were about to fly out, and they thought: Is this called excusable? Your Majesty, you are too talkative. I wanted to say something sarcastic, but when I thought about it, the Emperor just didn't let it go easily.
Is he his brother? The emperor is that kind of person.
"But, how should we deal with this matter? Now it seems that Heling and Yanling were also unaware and made an unintentional mistake. Qingyun Marquis Ningbo, you also misunderstood them. This matter was all a coincidence. They
I didn't mean to cross my legs." Zhu Youtang said.
"How weird!" Zhou Shou thought in his heart, but said: "Your Majesty, it seems that it is all a misunderstanding. But the fact is that they bought the land we wanted to buy first. How should we deal with this matter?"
Zhu Youtang smacked his lips and said: "Yeah, this is really tricky. I can't allow you to buy land again. The court already knows about this matter. At the court meeting this morning, Liu Jian, Xie Qian and the others have already come up with it and said that I don't want to
Respect the decision of their cabinet, change orders day and night, and gain privileges for our relatives. After a lot of comfort, I calmed down and promised them not to allow our relatives to buy land at will. I can't break my promise in the blink of an eye, then I'm afraid I won't be able to live in peace."
There was silence in the study. Zhou Shou and Zhou Yu had a gloomy face. They were not willing to let the duck fly. The four hundred hectares of land originally belonged to their Zhou family. Zhang Yanling and Zhang Heling obviously did it on purpose. They ran against the Zhou family and went to force them.
Robbed. The day before yesterday, Zhou Yu was stationed in Baodi County, planning to cut leeks when the deadline came. However, Zhang brothers were killed on the way, and all the fat in his mouth was gone.
Zhou Yu tried to make amends at that time. He found the gangster leader in Baodi County and gave him a thousand taels of silver and asked him to lead someone to pretend to be a robber to snatch back the land deed. It was already a very risky thing, but unfortunately he did not succeed. But the Zhou brothers were
They absolutely refused to give up, so Zhou Yu quickly rushed back to the capital and complained to the emperor. It was impossible for them to give up.
"Why don't you say anything? Things must be resolved. How about half of the family's property and everyone being happy?" Zhu Youtang decided to make peace with Xini.
Although Zhou Shou and Zhou Yu were dissatisfied with this plan, it was not unacceptable. After all, it was better than leaving empty-handed.
Zhang Yanling coughed, cupped his hands and said: "Your Majesty, since my brother and I mistakenly bought the 400 hectares of land from Mr. Zhou's house, then we naturally have to return it to him. A gentleman will not take away what others love, this land originally belongs to the Emperor
We have nothing to say about the land purchased by the Xu Zhou family."
As soon as these words came out, several people in the imperial study room were surprised. The Zhou brothers did not expect Zhang Yanling to be so straightforward. Zhang Heling even more did not expect that Zhang Yanling would give in. Even Zhu Youtang was surprised. He originally thought that his two brothers-in-law
Will he give up the meat he got? Could it be that his brother-in-law has really changed completely? He not only understands justice, but is also humble and tolerant? That is really the result of that fall.
"Is Marquis Jianchang really willing to do this? Return the land to the Zhou family?" Zhu Youtang said with a smile.
"Of course, I can't take away people's love, nor can I embarrass the emperor. But we bought that land with money, and the Zhou family has to give us all the money we spent. Plus the carriage and horse fees and hard work. Your Majesty
Do you think so?" Zhang Yanling said.
Zhu Youtang nodded and smiled: "Of course, can't I ask you to give it away for free?"
Zhang Yanling nodded and said: "Well, Mr. Zhou will go back to my brother's house with five hundred thousand taels of silver. We will hand over the silver in one hand and the land deed in the other."
"What? Five hundred thousand taels?" Zhou Shou shouted in shock.
"Why don't you go and grab it?" Zhou Yu said angrily.
Zhang Yanling said: "Huh? That's weird. Forty thousand acres of fertile land, twelve taels per mu, a total of 480,000 taels. Plus 20,000 taels for carriage, labor, and hard work, isn't that much? Let's round up the total to 500,000 taels.
, is there a mistake?"
Zhang Heling covered his mouth and almost laughed out loud. He had long wondered why his brother would give in and compromise. He guessed that Zhang Yanling must have some intentions. Sure enough, his brother tripled the price of the land and sold it to the Zhou family.
.
"You...you are talking nonsense. How can the price you paid for it be twelve taels of silver per mu? This is simply unreasonable." Zhou Shou angrily rebuked.
Zhang Yanling said: "Fifteen taels per mu of fertile land outside Beijing. Although Baodi County is outside Beijing and the price is lower, twelve taels is a fair price. What's wrong? Didn't your Zhou family buy their land at this price?"
What? Two, three, two, one acre? That’s fertile land, do you think it’s barren mountains, deserts, and barren land?”
"Zhang Yanling, don't think we don't know that the price of the land you bought is 4,241 acres, and you lied in front of the emperor. Did you deceive the emperor?" Zhou Yu shouted in a deep voice.
"Four two forty-one acres? Uncle Chang Ning, are you crazy? Is the land price that low? In the Ming Dynasty, even in remote counties, there were more than this number of fertile fields, let alone those around Gyeonggi? So, you said it was four taels.
Forty-one acres, I'll pay five taels, so you can sell me all your manor, and I'll let you make a bargain. Land is so precious, four taels, four ounces, and one acre? Are you lying or am I lying?" Zhang Yanling sneered.
"You..." Zhou Yu blushed and was furious, but he didn't know how to refute.